PUSH CREATIVITY... The Blog

New 3D Graphics Showreel from Push

2012-05-22T06:12:00.001-07:00

A completely new 3D showreel has now been edited and uploaded to YouTube, showing off of the best and the latest work of our 3D graphics artist Ashley Taylor

If you like what you see, please share with friends and colleagues using these handy little buttons:

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Creating a City Centre Map in 3D Graphics

2012-02-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Creating a city centre may using with 3D graphics

by Ashley Taylor

Here's the story on one of my latest projects, a 3D map of a city centre showing an existing tramline and a proposed new line, using Maxon's Cinema 4D. Mile after mile of busy, built-up cityscape with the tram route clear at the centre of it.

It was quite a challenge, so much so that the finished map is just too big for this blog! But fear not, you can see the extent of my hard work with an animation, a helicopter style fly-through of the map. Please click play to watch the animation, and then read about the key challenges of creating a 3D illustration of this size that needs to be highly accurate yet visually clear and simple.

So how did I create this 3D city scape?

My source material was printed plans of the proposed route: five sheets of A4 I stitched together using a highly technical process… sticky tape.

I combined the printed map with screen grabs from Google Maps, about 25 of them in total, which I imported into my Cinema 4D software so I could overlay the 3D onto the Google map as I created it, to make sure it was accurate geographically, and in scale, throughout.

I also constantly referred to Google Streetview to ensure that landmark buildings were visually accurate from a human perspective. Key buildings were shown with a glassy finish. Curved walls were seen as curved, even when from the aerial view those curves were hidden by straight roofs.

Key buildings with glassy surfaces and curved walls to reflect what could be seen from street level

One of the biggest challenges was what to leave out. A busy city centre is full of details but for this map it would be confusing to record every post box and parking space. It had to be simple enough to be easily understood, but complex enough to be recognisable to residents and visitors.

The map’s initial use was for internal consultation in the public sector, so it needed to work at a meeting room, to enable people to discuss the project. In the future it may be used by the public as a guide to the tram route.

For the animation I set up several effects to actually reduce the pristine perfection of the 3D and simulate a real camera lens with all its impurities.

These effects include chromatic aberration, which gives a subtle colour shift in the corners, vignette to darken the corner of each frame, ‘noise’ which essentially makes the image more grainy and distortion of each frame to make it look slightly rounded. Although subtle it does have the effect of making it look more realistic feel.

A challenge I really enjoyed, and I’m very pleased with the result.

If you’ve any questions or thoughts about this 3D project, please use the form below to post your comment.

If you like what you see, please share with friends and colleagues using these handy little buttons:

Angela kicks off a Meme on Instagram

2012-01-25T02:34:00.000-08:00

"If you're a brand wondering what can be achieved with Instagram and the tiny lens of an iPhone, search #bo2011 and prepare to be amazed..."

Instagram, FREE in The App Store

We're delighted to report that Push Creativity's copywriter, Angela Montague, was the originator of the the internet meme #bo2011, as used on social media's latest phenomenon, Instagram.

Instagram is a free iPhone app (soon to be available on Android) that lets you share photographs taken on your phone. Photographs can only be uploaded by phone, but you can look at people’s photo steams through the web. Instagram is a little like Twitter in that you can follow people from anywhere in the world, people can follow you, and there are hashtags to search. But whilst Twitter is all about words, Instagram is all about photos. And it's been a phenomenal success. Ten million users in 355 days, from a company with only 10 employees.

Crucially, Instagram offers several filters to apply to your photos before uploading, giving them an instant retro or artistic look. This, coupled with the many photo-editing apps out there, makes it very easy to turn a phone snap shot into something that catches the eye. A lot of brands are getting pretty excited about the potential of this new app, especially brands that sell on image, like fashion, food, interior design and tourism. As a copywriter specialising in these 'eye candy' industries, and active Instagrammer for almost a year, Angela is in a very good position to help companies harness this new social media colossus.

And harness it she has already, because the amazing 'Best 2011 of Grids' posted on Instagram under the hashtag #bo2011 started with her.

Here's her first grid, posted on December 28th, and how the meme took off in her own words:

Click to enlarge and open a slide show of images on this blog

I made up the tag #bestofAnglo2011, wandered back through my stream and tagged my favourite shots with it. I stopped tagging when I had made an IG-friendly square of images. Turns out that you need 16 shots to do make a square, 4x4, who'd have thought? I shared the grid and invited people to explore my personal 'best of' tag, like wrapping paper the blur was designed to add an element of surprise when people clicked the tag to see my 16 images in their own mini stream.

An End of Year Review is an obvious thing to do, but I also did this because I had a few images from early on in the year that I was really proud of and wanted to parade again. Equally, I knew I had missed lots of other people's best shots from the year (because I just can't be on IG that much), so I threw out the invite for others to make a grid. I did not include instructions, thinking it was obvious how to make the grid (I need to remember not everyone is a geek like me!).

click to enlarge

Then one of my followers ForwardTumble suggested using #bo2011 for the grid shots only, so they could be browsed all in one place.

Then a few friends, with many more followers than me, did one:

click to enlarge

And things started to pick up speed. When it got to about 50 grids, I lobbed some proper instructions into the #bo2011 tag, because many people were asking 'what app did you use' (you don't need an app!), because some people were putting individual shots in with the grids (grrrr) and because the part ForwardTumble and I had played in creating the meme was getting lost in the stampede.

click to enlarge

And in a few days a little idea I expected to be taken up by me and a handful of followers went from 50 grids by the end of day one, to 750 by the start of New Year's Eve to 1400 by the end of New Year's Day.

So a huge thank you to everyone for doing it! I started off liking every image but there are now too many to do that, but in my heart I have.

The #Bo2011 tag is the ultimate box of chocolates. It's the best of the best of Instagram. It shows just how stunning iPhone photography can be. It's also demonstrates the huge difference in creativity that people can achieve with the same tool. I've seen girds full of bright coloured skies, macro insects, soft sepia Earlybirds, hard black and white architecture, the same puppy getting bigger and just balloons. It's a fascinating gallery I'll keep coming back to.

If you're a brand wondering what can be achieved with Instagram and the tiny lens of an iPhone, search #bo2011 and prepare to be amazed...

And - hey presto - you can browse the tag right here: #bo2011

You can also look at Angela's latest Instagram photographs here http://instagrid.me/anglo/

And if your brand wants to harness the power of Instagram, you'd better talk to Angela. Just click through to our website for full contact details and an email form.

Here are some screen shots of the many, many grids out there. We're sure you'll agree they look glorious all together.

Christmas Wishes for 2011 from Push !

2011-12-19T04:53:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas ecard animation for 2011, by the very talented Ashley Taylor. A Merry Christmas to all!

If that warmed your cockles, do please share on Facebook, Twitter and the like, using the buttons at the top of this post.

If you'd like to see more of Ashley's work, please click the link to see Push Creativity's 3D portfolio.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Hot Little 3D Animation

2011-11-29T06:14:00.001-08:00

Our latest 3D graphic animation, a perfect example of how CGI can be used to explain complicated and hidden processes perfectly, in this case acting as a very effective sales tool for our client. This animation shows the operation of a environmentally beneficial hot water cylinder system from UK company Eco Equipped, where heat sources add energy to the thermal store and the energy can be used for heating and hot water on demand. The animation was created from 2D drawings of the product, we made the house up ourselves! Click to play...

Postcards from the Future

2011-11-16T03:52:00.001-08:00

Our new promotional postcard on the many wonders of commercial 3D

The team at Push Creativity certainly embrace the new. We think 3D graphics not photography. We think active blog not stale website. We think Facetime not time lost travelling to a minor meeting. But that does not mean we can't get retro in our marketing when it's right to do so, like this natty little postcard. Printed, posted and pushed through letterboxes. Radical, I know.

There's still a lot to be said for print. It will not get stuck in the spam folder. If it's well designed, well written and relevant it will get also results - the hallowed phone call and start of a new business relationship or a place on your target customer's notice board, because they like what they see and know they will want you in the future.

Here's the reverse of the card. Click the image to enlarge.

All our print work now includes QR Codes

We're also including QR Codes in all our print now so anyone with a smart phone can read the code and go straight on-line for more information - in this case straight to our 3D portfolio.

So for us this little postcard perfectly illustrates how the best of old and new marketing can work together.

And because print's not being used so much, it's incredibly affordable. And because it's not being used so much, it now stands out in the mail - if done well. Time for a print renaissance?

Bespoke Christmas eCards from Push Creativity

2011-11-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

by Ashley Taylor

Our collection of very customisable Christmas eCards is ready to view, in this blog post and on Push Creativity's YouTube channel.

From stylish and sophisticated to funny and jolly, our cards are designed for business to business use and made to be customised so companies can send a bespoke Christmas eCard without the high price of an original 3D animation.

They're also a lot better for the planet. There would be a lot less paper going to landfill in January if every organisation used eCards not card cards!

We can render the animations to include a logo and use corporate colours so they look custom-made, and of course the message at the end can be whatever words our customers want. More details on how to send these cards at the end of the post, including the starting price, but for now, on with the show...

Rococo Tree: Twirls create a stylish Christmas tree to fly through!

Winter Wonderland - Following a snowflake through a Christmas landscape, with cute giggling soundtrack and a snowman at the end.

Christmas on Ice: your logo frozen in an ice cube, with a surprise ending too!

Up Close Christmas Tree: your logo & message on the baubles

A Christmas Cracker: explodes to reveal your corporate message inside

Frosty Says: our jolly snowman gets on his skis to deliver a special Christmas message

Ribbons and Lights: Festive streamers create a vibrant Christmas tree image

How it works...

You send the cards to your usual Christmas card list by email, not post. The email includes a link to a web page where the card can be viewed online. We can place your card on a blank page of our website, or supply it to you to upload onto your homepage for the December period. Of course you can put it on YouTube too.

Prices start at £89+VAT, this includes:

Adding your personal Christmas message and company logo to the final shot of the animation

Uploading the animation to your website (if we have created your site) or supplying it to your web design company, or hosting it on a blank page of the Push Creativity site. Alternatively you can add it to your YouTube channel.

More customised eCards (where you logo appears as part of the animation itself) will costs more because of the increase in render time required, but do please ask for a price - you could be pleasantly surprised.

To find out more...

... please send us an email using Push Creativity Contact Page and we'll get right back to you. If you have a card you like and want to know how it could be customised, and what it will costs, just let us know. Or if you have a design in mind you'd like to commission, we can do that too. We'd be delighted to help.

And even if you have no need of a corporate eCard, we'd still love to know which card you prefer too, leave us a comment. Thank you very much if you do!

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Push's Resomation 3D Graphics go Viral

2011-09-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

The video clip including my 3D featured on Newsnight,
watch it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555

By Ashley Taylor

Fame at last! My 3D graphics have just been featured on BBC Newsnight, Fox News and NBC as our client Resomation Ltd is at the centre of a breaking news story!

The story covers the Resomation process: a 'greener' alternative to cremation which uses water and alkali - also known as alkaline hydrolysis - to break the body down chemically. Resomation Ltd has been developing this since 2007, working closely with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, USA and in partnership with LBBC Technologies in Leeds, UK.

Resomation asked me to create a 3D animation that showed the Resomator in operation, especially what happened inside the machine, a while ago. This explanation has already played a part in the company winning an Observer Ethical Award in 2010 and a John Logie Baird award in 2009.

Now Resomation is very much in the news following the unit's first installation, in a Florida funeral home, and this means my 3D is appearing on news sites across the globe, with more stories appearing each day, and a million hits on that original BBC page alone.

The story as headlined on the Newsnight website

I must say that as an illustration of the advantages of 3D the Resomator is perfect - how else can you show this process without using 3D? It's also very gratifying that so many national media organisations are happy to use my 3D on their website and national TV channels to explain the story.

The story Newsnight ran is on the BBC website here with a video to watch that includes the 3D.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14114555

Here's the story as covered by Fox News in America, this clip shows even more 3D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8oI8uPbFoC0

And here on NBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44360060/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Thanks for reading about my claim to fame!

You can watch my entire 3D showreel here: Push Creativity 3D Graphic Showreel

Turner's Cabin - our latest website goes live!

2011-08-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

www.turnerscabin.co.uk now launched

A new online shop selling everything to do with wood turning is open for business at www.turnerscabin.co.uk.

The latest website by the Push Creativity team, Turner's Cabin offers 300 items for the British wood turner including tools, kits, accessories and those all essential wood turning blanks, which Turner's create themselves to a very high standard.

This is the first eCommerce site Push has designed and coded since launching our new web design team, and it was certainly a 'baptism of fire' with over 70 pages of products to manage!

The Turner's Cabin site is also a fully content managed system (CMS), so that the company's owners, Ian Metheringham and his partner Stacey, can add products themselves at any time, as well as edit the text and change the photographs. This means there will be no ongoing charges from Push for updates or for adding new products - a big asset to this small family business run by an enterprising young couple.

And on that note we'd like to wish Ian and Stacey the best of luck in their new business venture. If you're a wood turner, or you know someone who is, it's well worth seeing what's on offer at Turner's Cabin. We can assure you these people really know about wood turning, and really care about their customers.

My BIG week in photography

2011-07-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

not suitable for a studio - or is it?

by Ashley Taylor

How do you take studio photographs of agricultural machinery that’s up to six metres wide and 13,000 kg?

That was the challenge Echoes Marketing and Simba Great Plains gave me when they said that for Simba's new range of brochures they wanted to move away from the traditional working shot in an arable field, and show the cultivation equipment against a modern white backdrop.

I called a few big photography studios, listened to them whistle down the phone and heard a variety of ways to say "no":

“sorry mate, it’s just too big”

"it's not going to fit through the doors"

“it will probably cut into our floor”.

So I went back to the clients and we hatched a plan to convert part of their factory floor into a working photography studio, capable of taking photos of these immense pieces of kit that are crisp and bright enough to reveal all the engineering details in print. No transport costs, no studio hire and no broken floorboards.

With the help of old-fashioned white paint, eight studio lights, 3m x11m metre paper backdrops and six days hard work, this is how the Simba team and I shot the giants for Paul Maitland at Echoes Marketing to use in the final range of new brochures.

studio photography, without the studio

six days shooting means an awful lot of coffee

eight studio lights and 3m x11m paper backdrops
turned the factory floor into a photographic studio

the floor was regularly mopped to remove tractor tyre marks

the next stage: using Photoshop, Echoes Marketing's
graphic designer Dave Wilson
removed all evidence of the factory

another cleaned up shot ready for the design work

one of six finished brochures featuring my photography
(click the image to enlarge)

another centre spread in print
(click the image to enlarge)

Ashley Taylor is our photographer and 3D Graphic artist. You can see more of his photography work on the Push Creativity website. If you've got a similar job you want to talk to him about, call him on 01673 843852.

3D Graphics Gallery #6: The Title Graphics

2011-05-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

Intro Graphics Created for: Simba Great Plain, manufacturers of agricultural machinery.

Ref Material: Flat image of the Simba logo.

Project Included: Brief animation of the logo as a 3D image including sound effects, which can be used as a title or ident in a video.

Use: This animation was used as the opening titles for Simba's new corporate DVD

3D Graphics Gallery #5 The Intro Animation

2011-03-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Intro Graphics Created for: The Institute of Videography (IOV).

Ref Material: Flat image of the logo from the IOV's website.

Project Included: Short animation of the logo as a 3D image, which can be used as a title or ident in a video.

Use: These were created to go with a series of talks by Push Creativity for IOV members on the use of 3D graphics in video production.

3D Graphics Gallery #4 The Shampoo Bottle

2011-03-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

Created for: H & H (formerly Rococo Design & Marketing)

Ref Materials: Plastic bottles to re-create as 3D models, and artwork for labels as Photoshop files

Project Included: Animations of hair care product bottles, with Rococo's packaging design shown in situ.

Use: To show how the designs would look on the finished bottles. These images are comparable to studio photography and are used on the Shuka website and the static images were also used in the Shuka printed brochure.

3D Graphics Gallery #3 The Chain

2011-03-08T04:36:00.000-08:00

One of three product illustrations created for Acorn Industrial Services.

The illustrations were created from 3D CAD files supplied to Push Creativity from Acorn.

The finished 3D has been used throughout the company's marketing, from websites to print.

Creating these clean images, with cut-away details, proved more affordable than studio photography.

The New Website Design Team

2011-01-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

By Angela Montague

New Year, new venture for us!

It's all happening at Push in 2011. We've doubled our website design team and set our sites on offering a complete web design service to clients, old and new.

And we don't use that word 'complete' lightly. We think a truly effective website has to perform in four key areas: graphic design, SEO copywriting, coding and visual content. And that thought has led to action: we've put together a web design team that covers all those areas, saturates them, in fact!

So who are our new web team? Any why are they the bee's knees?

New Boy: David Wilson.
Specialism: Graphic Designer

We want your website to look brilliant. Designed to make customers understand your key messages in seconds, want to linger a while to read the full story, then want to contact you because you look like a professional organisation they can trust. That’s why we use Dave Wilson to graphic design all our web pages. With 19 years’ experience, Dave has spent thousands of hours in an agency setting, talking with account handlers and clients, gathering a stack of images and words, understanding a range of ideas and hopes, then transforming it all into seamless, polished artwork that stuns everyone, including the important people: the ones the campaign is targeting. From global industrial leaders to local pre-school nurseries, Dave has produced conceptual, illustrative and finished artwork in all sectors. And now he’s here to create your website pages, including a sleek new logo and new corporate look if you wish.

Dave is fully proficient in: Adobe Indesign, Quark Xpress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Dreamweaver, Freehand MX, Cinema 4D, Corel Painter Basic and Adobe Premiere Pro.

New Girl: Karen Bryan
Specialism: Coding and Programming

We want your website to be incredibly easy to use. It needs to work, whether your customer is using Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. It needs to look just as beautiful on a smart phone as a laptop. Your contact form should be a breeze to complete and it should deliver that potential customer’s message to you - fast. New pages should look just the same as established ones. The whole site should be fully accessible to disabled people. A content managed site should be created bespoke to your needs and completely intuitive to use. And if it’s an ecommerce site, purchasing should be easy and secure. That’s why we use Karen Bryan to code all our websites. With 13 years’ experience, her career path so far has specialised in software development and marketing, working alongside graphic designers and marketing professionals, to build websites that meet all current standards and quite simply, work.

Karen is fully proficient in: ASP (VBscript), PHP, MS SQL, MySQL, CSS, JavaScript, HTML, IIS, Apache, Adobe Dreamweaver, Abode Photoshop, InDesign, Flash, Visual Web Developer, Sony Vegas & DVD Architect.

Familiar Face: Angela Montague
Specialism: Copywriter, SEO Expert & Social Media Advisor

We want your website to make people act. Words that take customers on a short but sweet journey from “I get it” to “I want it”. But before that can happen, you need to get them to your site: you need to sweet-talk the search engines too. We want people who don’t know your name to find you by simply searching for what you do. That’s why we use Angela Montague to provide search engine optimised (SEO) copywriting and social media advice. 15 years’ experience of commercial writing, including five years (and counting) within SEO and Web 2, Angela is obsessed with future marketing. Hunting down those key words and phrases which your potential customer is searching with, coding them into all those crucial locations on your site, writing fluently within the character limits search engines set and developing a credible social media presence to make you so much more visible online.

Angela is fully proficient in: Social Media, including Twitter and Facebook. Blogging software including Blogger and Wordpress. Microsoft Office: Word and Excel.

Familiar Face: Ashley Taylor
Specialism: 3D Graphics, Video & Photography

We want your website to be explored. That’s why we use Ashley Taylor to fill our sites with 3D graphics, photography and videos. Ashley’s 3D stills and animations explain and promote complex processes that cannot be captured by camera. His videos are designed to play online, to sell products or explain how to use them on your website, blog or YouTube channel. His professional photographs let you fill your site with images unique to you: your people, your products, your services. If you want your site to engage, be bookmarked, shared and linked to, you need rich content: you need Ash.

Ashley is fully proficient in: Cinema 4D, Premier, After Effects and Photoshop.

If you want to know more, please click through to find out:

Packages, prices and what's you get for your money

Why Push Creativity's web designers bring you much more

How we can rescue, refresh & re-launch your existing website

Your online marketing services in full, from Push Creativity

The Portfolio: examples of our team's excellent web design

How to contact us - any questions?

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Push Creativity's Christmas eCard for 2010!

2010-12-21T03:30:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and peaceful New Year.

The Push Creativity Igloo... and more

2010-12-08T02:13:00.000-08:00

by Angela Montague

We've had some EXTREME weather here in Lincolnshire (England) with temperatures at -16 and 18 inches of snow.

The old folks are saying it has not been this bad since the legendary winter of 1947, so I am expecting to talk about this winter well into my dotage.

For us this is a time of rare beauty; we even caught some diamond dust clouds last night! It's also a time of growing inconvenience as side roads and pavements are covered in thick ice, schools are closed for days at a time, and the Lincoln Christmas Market is cancelled for the first time in 28 years; a major event that should have brought 150,000 people (and their purses) into the city.

But let's go back to the beauty. Here are some photographs taken this weekend:

This is no illusion, the snow is that high

The tree has bent double with the weight of the snow, its topmost branches scraping the floor

OK, they cheated and knelt down... but still

...and dash away into Narnia

This is what 18 inches looks like!

Nice day for a picnic


Deep and Crisp and Even, don't you think?

Our very own Ashley Taylor 'tests' the igloo before he lets the children use it!

Christmas eCards with Easy to Customise 3D Graphics

2010-11-19T05:40:00.000-08:00

by Ashley Taylor

Our new collection of very customisable Christmas eCards is ready to view, in this blog post and on Push Creativity's YouTube channel.

From stylish and sophisticated to funny and jolly, our cards are designed for business to business use and made to be customised so companies can send a bespoke Christmas eCard without the high price of an original 3D animation.

They're also a lot better for the planet. There would be a lot less paper going to landfill in January if every organisation used eCards not card cards!

We can render the animations to include a logo and use corporate colours so they look custom-made, and of course the message at the end can be whatever words our customers want. More details on how to send these cards at the end of the post, including the starting price, but for now, on with the show...

Up Close Christmas Tree: your logo & message on the baubles

Rococo Tree: Twirls create a stylish Christmas tree to fly through!

A Christmas Cracker: explodes to reveal your corporate message inside

Christmas on Ice: your logo frozen in an ice cube, with a surprise ending too!

Frosty Says: our jolly snowman gets on his skis to deliver a special Christmas message

Ribbons and Lights: Festive streamers create a vibrant Christmas tree image

How it works...

You send the cards to your usual Christmas card list by email, not post. The email includes a link to a web page where the card can be viewed online. We can place your card on a blank page of our website, or supply it to you to upload onto your homepage for the December period. Of course you can put it on YouTube too.

Prices start at £89+VAT, this includes:

Adding your personal Christmas message and company logo to the final shot of the animation

Uploading the animation to the website of your choice, or hosting it on a blank page of our site

More customised eCards (where you logo appears as part of the animation itself) will costs more because of the increase in render time required, but do please ask for a price - you could be pleasantly suprised.

To find out more...

... please send us an email using Push Creativity Contact Page and we'll get right back to you. If you have a card you like and want to know how it could be customised, and what it will costs, just let us know. Or if you have a design in mind you'd like to commission, we can do that too. We'd be delighted to help.

And even if you have no need of a corporate eCard, we'd still love to know which card you prefer too, leave us a comment. Thank you very much if you do!

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Angela makes the grade as an International Copywriter!

2010-11-08T06:01:00.000-08:00

by Angela Montague, Copywriter

Time to blow my own trumpet: I have been listed as one of the Top 100 International Copywriters and Content Bloggers!

Created by leading New York copywriter Lorraine Thompson, the Top 100 list is a wonderful mix of established, big-fishes and rising, new talents in the world of commercial writing.

I am delighted by both the kudos of being included the usefulness of the list itself: so many interesting new new copywriters I can talk with on Twitter and through their blogs.

So a big thank you, Lorraine!

The full list is here, and well worth exploring if you have any interest in writing:

Top 100 International Copywriters

Please follow this link to read Angela's Copywriting pages at Push Creativity's website.

Please follow this link to read Angela's slightly commercial blog Vintage Copywriting.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

Push Creativity's Smallest Employees

2010-10-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

by Ashley Taylor, Videographer

I've worked in commercial video and photography for about 15 years now. In that time I have grown accustomed to being in front of the camera, as well as behind.

"We need a bloke to push this button."

"We thought we'd just have a hand come in to hold the box, for scale?"

Or my favourite:

"Can you just put this blue hair net on first?"

Yes, it's surprising how many companies' brochures and videos I pop-up in. At the big trade shows and exhibitions, you can play Spot the Ashley.

So it was a pleasant surprise when my client Steve Wilson called to say he needed a quick video creating for his website, but he really needed children to be in it. For once, I was off the hook. My kids, however, were on it!

Steve creates sensory room equipment for schools, and he needed the video for his latest product the Bubble Squeeze. This is a wall mounted bubble machine in which bubbles are squeezed as they flow upwards, creating a unique pattern of varying shapes and shadows, whilst the colour of the water gently changes. But as you probably guessed, to really demonstrate its wonders it needed to be seen in action and it really need to have young children reacting to it.

Luckily, I had two children I prepared earlier, my daughters Emelia (7) and Ruby (5). We explained they would be in a video, but decided to not reveal the Bubble Squeeze until the last minute, to try to capture some genuine reactions. I rehearsed their roles with them, explaining that their motivation was that this Secret Thing they were going to see was the most amazing thing in the world.

It was the half-term holidays at the time, and the poor little dears had to put on school uniform for authenticity. Ruby asked a few times: "But we're not really going to school, are we Daddy?"

The Bubble Squeeze worked a treat, with the children naturally enchanted by the pretty colours, gurgling noises and of course the bubbles floating up the panel. They did a much better acting job than I have over the years. Do please play the video to see what you think.

Steve reports that when schools phone up to enquire about the Bubble Squeeze, he can hear Ruby's voice in the background, so as a selling tool, this little video is definitely doing its job.

And if you like that Bubble Squeeze, you can find out more at the Bubble Squeeze website.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG (FREE) please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email, or click here to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Alternatively, If you are wondering what on Earth we're talking about, this link will tell you all about Feed Readers.

3D Graphics Gallery #2 The New Build House

2010-10-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

Photo realistic illustration of a new build house, created for the developer's brochure

3D Graphics Gallery #1 The Exploded Diagram

2010-09-29T02:31:00.000-07:00

Introducing a gallery of our favourite work, added to week by week.

Exploded diagram of a prison cell created in 3D (click to enlarge)

All About the Push Creativity Blog

2010-07-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

Push Creativity... The Blog will feature our latest work, focusing on the most interesting and challenging projects we've just completed.

And for those of you who don't already know, Push Creativity's work includes: commercial 3D graphics, video production, photography and website design.

Posts will be short and frequent (two to three posts a month), with the emphasis on excellent visuals and interesting stories.

The blog will be written and designed by our in-house copywriter, Angela Montague. As a commercial writer who knows her way around blogging software and social media, we believe Angela has just the right skills to create and maintain a blog that's actually worth reading.

We'd really like you to subscribe by email (it's FREE), so we really need to say here and now: what's in it for you?

To our existing clients...

Our blog posts will be about the work we're doing for clients, so you're going to be featured... often. We hope you'll enjoy the attention of a post about you and share it with colleagues and friends. And we hope your website will enjoy the search engine optimisation boost when we link to your site.

Rest assured, no post will be published without your full consent and approval!

We also hope you'll enjoy reading about what we do for others: tried and tested ideas that could really work for you or your clients, with a trusted supplier ready to use... Push!

Finally, if you want to know more about blogs and how they can work in the commercial world, we hope our blog will show you how to use this new tool for business-to-business communication.

If it works for us, it could work for you, especially if we are working together.

To our potential clients...

This blog is our shop window, with our latest posts appearing on the homepage of our website to keep it busy and up to date. If you're thinking of using us, this blog will let you see what we've done in the past few months, with existing clients' comments to confirm that we're not the only ones delighted with the results.

To our suppliers...

We like to find the best suppliers and stick with them. As a supplier, you are very much part of our success so you are going to be part of our blog posts too (again with full consent!). We'll detail your expert contributions to our projects and, of course, link to your websites. And when we're not specifically featuring you, we hope you'll still tune-in to find out our latest innovations - fresh ideas you can take-away to perhaps win new business for us all.

To the press...

The blog does not replace our public relations work: it enhances it. In many ways it builds a motorway for our news, where there was once a bridleway. As a journalist that's versed in the web, you'll already know that a well-maintained blog is invaluable for researching a company's recent activities, at source, and you'll welcome another valuable feed to add to your reader to keep you up to date with all the latest industry news. If you're not quite so versed in the web, we invite you to read our simple guide to RSS feeds and feed readers. All the breaking news gathered into one place, who'd have thought it?

To those who share a passion for our work...

If you've a keen interest in 3D graphics, photography, video production and web design, our blog will detail what a busy 'screen media' studio works on week by week, with the technical detail to make it an interesting read to anyone that's into, or wants to break-into, our field of work.

To our family and friends...

You're always keen to know what we're up to, and many of you are too far away to look over our shoulders, so this blog is also here to let you see what we're working on this week.

To those search engines

And of course a website that's linked to a busy blog with lots of updated, relevant content is the best way to keep our internet presence fresh and highly ranked by those search engines!

So that's why we're starting the blog.

So what now?

Bookmark us!

If you like the sound of our blog, and want to come back again, please Bookmark (or 'Favourite') this page now, so you always know where we are.

Subscribe - it's FREE

Just click this link to subscribe by email (it's FREE) and easy to un-subscribe if you change your mind.

Or click this link to find out how to subscribe by feed reader, including exactly what feed reading is and how it lets you access all the breaking news relevant to you, from one place.

Comment at the end of this post

Any questions, comments, requests? You can either use the comment form at the bottom of this post, or follow this link to our website to use Push Creativity's Contact Form and send us an email.

Share our Blog

If you've enjoyed this, or any other post, use the 'Share This' button at the bottom of this page to share this blog on email, or through websites like Facebook, Twitter and Stumbled Upon.

Thank you for reading, hope to see you here again soon!

Ashley and Angela @ Push Creativity

How to Subscribe by Feed Reader

2010-06-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

This blog can be viewed in the traditional way, through the webpage, or via its Feed, which will deliver all the latest posts to you on email or through a Feed Reader.

If you want to receive our updates by email, please click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email. We only need your email address, nothing else, and you can cancel at any time.

If you want to subscribe by Feed Reader, click here to
subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader.

If, however, you're thinking "hang on, what is a Feed Reader?", read on...

What are Feeds and Feed Readers?

'Feeds' are the content of websites. They can include words, text, audio or video. Feeds are in RSS (Really Simple Syndication) format to make it as simple as possible to distribute the content.

'Feed Readers' are applications that gather the Feeds of blogs and other news sites into one place. You decide the Feeds that go into your Reader, and there are thousands out there. The huge benefit of a Feed Reader is that you can read the latest news you're really interested in from one place, without having to hunt through a dozen or more bookmarked sites.

Some Readers work through your internet browser, others are downloadable applications.

As well as the Push Creativity Blog, you’ll find Feeds available on other blogs and major news websites, with all these leading names having a dedicated page of RSS feeds you can subscribe to, depending on your interest..

BBC News Headlines 17 RSS News Feeds

The Daily Telegraph over 100 RSS Feeds

Farmer’s Weekly nine RSS Feeds

Farmer's Guardian over 10 RSS feeds available across the site

Construction News over 20 RSS Feeds

Creative Review links to the Blog, available as RSS Feed

New Civil Engineer 15 RSS feeds

In fact wherever you see the orange Feed logo (the dot and two curves at the top of this post) there will be a Feed you can add to your Feed Reader.

We recommend you get hold of a Feed Reader and start subscribing – to our blog of course, but any others Feeds you’re interested in. As well as keeping on top of world news, local news, industry news and interesting blogs, you’ll quickly get the hang of this revolutionary aspect of online communication.

How do I get hold of a Feed Reader?

Your internet browser may already have a built-in Feed Reader (later versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari do). Look for the Feed logo in your browser and click on it. You should get the option to add this blog's RSS feed to your built in reader. More information on Internet Explorer's built-in feed reader can be found on Microsoft's page about feed reading.

If you don't have a Feed Reader on your browser, we recommend you open a FREE Google Account to start using Google Reader. Set up your account here, on Google Reader's homepage.

Once you have Google Reader in place, return to our blog, and click here to
subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Feed Reader. Or you can look for the RSS logo next to the words "subscribe in a reader", then click 'add to Google' and our updates will appear whenever you click on your Google Reader page. All blogs should have a 'subscribe' box with an RSS logo somewhere, if you want to subscribe to them too!

Follow these links for more excellent explanations of Feed Readers at the BBC news website and The Guardian

How to Subscribe by Email (FREE)

2010-06-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Want to receive our latest posts on email? You need to Subscribe to this blog - it's FREE and EASY to do, and easy to UNDO if you change your mind.

Firstly, why not Bookmark this page right now so you can always find us?

Email Subscription

Just click this link to subscribe to the PUSH Blog by Email.

All we need from you is an email address. We will not used that address for any purpose other than sending you our blog updates, and the option to cancel is there with every blog email if you change your mind.

To activate your subscription, we'll send you an email that you will need to reply to, so we can check your address works. So watch out for that. From then on you'll get all our new posts on email as they are published.

However you access our blog, we'd be delighted to have you as a regular reader.

Ashley and Angela @ Push